What keeps deer away?

[Libertarian01]

To All,

I'll be planting 23 trees soon enough this spring. My initial focus was ten (10) fruit trees that I wanted to have out in the country.

Upon joining the Arbor Day Foundation to purchase the trees for a cheaper price they were kind enough to throw in ten (10) free flowering trees, two (2) forsynthia bushes, and a red maple.

I will be surrounding all of the fruit trees w/ chicken wire so the deer can't get to them, but as I am doing everything manually (as well as staying w/in an already bloated budget) I cannot surround 13 additional trees and bushes w/ chicken wire. That will be too much work and too expensive.

So I was thinking that beyond just letting the flowering trees and the bushes fend for themselves and wish for the best against deer there must be something to do. That is where I will defer to your learned experience.

I've heard human hair can be used as a repellent. I was also wondering about some of those stinky urine and/or musk bottles I've seen at Gander Mountain.

I will be able to reapply anything that smells at least once per week on the weekends, maybe more often. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks,

Doug

PS - IF anyone has some chicken wire you want to get rid of please let me know.

 

[Dogman]

Another deer hanging in a tree upside down gutted.

 

[HandK]

Urine + Dishsoap. It will not only keep the deer away it will also stop a lot of bugs from munching on them. about 95% Urine 5% Dishsoap. Hope this helps

 

[melensdad]

I am planting my 3rd orchard. Or mini-orchard would be more accurate. 11 more fruit trees. The deer ate my other two attempts at personal orchards. They've also eaten many of my other trees to various degrees. I've got trees scattered over several acres, and live several miles outside of the nearest town, plenty of wooded cover and a small creek so the deer have PLENTY of cover and transit routes on my land. No way to 'police' all of the possible paths.

The ONLY thing I've found that works 100% of the time is fencing. Fence around EACH tree. I pound in 'wire fence' T-Posts and run some wire fence around each tree. That works.

 

[10secondthunderbird]

me and my deer slayer...lol

 

[USAShooter]

A good hunter

 

[spainy79]

My dog hates deer. If one walks into the yard it isn't there for long.

 

[HICKMAN]

was gonna say "me with a bow", but ya know

 

[koenig clone]

let me take my 13 yr old hunting there. sure as hell kept them out of my honey hole last year.

 

[singlestacksig]

Irish spring soap, hang in a canvas bag.. It will work for a while.. but not for ever..
FENCE is the only thing to really work..
If you can not remove the deer, you have to keep the deer away with a fence..

 

[ATM]

Large pythons.

 

[haldir]

Per the above all of the "antidotes" are temporary, human hair, urine, red pepper, blood meal... they get used to it. I think the red pepper works a bit longer :-)

 

[melensdad]

All the talk about 'hunters' is humorous but not very productive. The original poster has a serious question. My experience is that you can't hunt the deer off your property. You simply can't be there all the time.

The URINE trick does work, but only until it rains. So if you do use urine, just drink a few beers and walk around your yard peeing on your trees. Depending on where you live that can get you in some serious trouble. But human urine will deter deer. Its reasonably good, but not great, especially if there are frequent rains in your area. BTW the purpose of using some dishsoap is to make the urine stick to the plants.

A few drops of dishsoap, if mixed with a garlic and tobacco "tea" is also good at killing and then repelling some types of bugs that attack your veggie garden. The tobacco is toxic and will kill many bugs (both beneficial and harmful bugs so be careful with it) and the garlic will repel many bugs. The dishsoap helps stick the solution to the leaves of the plants.

More effective than urine is DEER AWAY but it suffers from some of the same problems. It will wash away, although not as quickly as urine. It also seems to remain effective for longer. Still its not as effective as fencing.

 

[danielocean03]

Give this stuff a try! Looks promising.

Deer Repellent: Deerbusters Repellent Deer I 32 oz Ready to Use

 

[kedie]

Cougars?

 

[Max Volume]

According to my experience in the woods and has also been stated in a book called "MY 60 Years Hunting Michigan Whitetails" human urine isn't all that effective. I've seen deer shot right where a human has urinated only hours before.

Now human poop is another story. They will avoid it like the plague. I've also read in a couple of places where deer can sense whether poop was laid by a herbivore or a carnivore and obviously stay away from carnivore poop.

One of the best books on deer behavior is called "The Deer of North America" by a guy named Leonard Lee Rue III. It is the standard reference on all North American deer species. In it he speaks of devices used in vineyards in CA that emitted a high pithced shriek and perhaps even ultra sonic waves that seem to be effective. Dried fish meal and blood of cattle from slaughterhouses were tried with limited success. Tests done by Thomas P. Sullivan in British Columbia have proven that wolverine urine is effective as is the urine of other predators for up to two months. Only the highest fences are 100% effective.

Diversionary foods are sometimes helpfull although not practical for every landowner. Good plantings are corn left standing, alfalfa or clover patches or rye grass seeded as a winter cover crop.

 

[Stove]

I'm glad someone else has this problem, I thought the dear have it in for me. Dear love freshly planted cantaloupe plants. They walk right down the rows and chow down. Same thing for green beans that are at the 2 leaf stage. It doesn't help that I have a gravel pit for water also.

It has gotten bad enough that I am contacting DNR so I can legally shoot them, or maybe shoot at them!

I have to shoot crows every couple of days in the sweet corn. Even dead laying is only a deterrent for a couple of days.

 

[redfireman1969]

they sell deer repel comes i a powder it was at walmart or dicks lol i was thinking of buying some to put around that guys stand that keeps cutting my deer off next year

 

[tv1217]

Now human poop is another story. They will avoid it like the plague. I've also read in a couple of places where deer can sense whether poop was laid by a herbivore or a carnivore and obviously stay away from carnivore poop.

Crap in a coffee can and put i out in the yard, problem solved

 

[Jack Ryan]

To All,

I'll be planting 23 trees soon enough this spring. My initial focus was ten (10) fruit trees that I wanted to have out in the country.

Upon joining the Arbor Day Foundation to purchase the trees for a cheaper price they were kind enough to throw in ten (10) free flowering trees, two (2) forsynthia bushes, and a red maple.

I will be surrounding all of the fruit trees w/ chicken wire so the deer can't get to them, but as I am doing everything manually (as well as staying w/in an already bloated budget) I cannot surround 13 additional trees and bushes w/ chicken wire. That will be too much work and too expensive.

So I was thinking that beyond just letting the flowering trees and the bushes fend for themselves and wish for the best against deer there must be something to do. That is where I will defer to your learned experience.

I've heard human hair can be used as a repellent. I was also wondering about some of those stinky urine and/or musk bottles I've seen at Gander Mountain.

I will be able to reapply anything that smells at least once per week on the weekends, maybe more often. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks,

Doug

PS - IF anyone has some chicken wire you want to get rid of please let me know.

TREE PRO